diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/AntXMLContext.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/AntXMLContext.java
index 4e63c8347..954866ea6 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/AntXMLContext.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/AntXMLContext.java
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ public class AntXMLContext {
      */
     public AntXMLContext(Project project) {
         this.project = project;
+        implicitTarget.setProject(project);
         implicitTarget.setName("");
         targetVector.addElement(implicitTarget);
     }
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelper2.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelper2.java
index 343e4ef52..00d65aa00 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelper2.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelper2.java
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ public class ProjectHelper2 extends ProjectHelper {
             Target currentTarget = context.getCurrentTarget();
             try {
                 Target newCurrent = new Target();
+                newCurrent.setProject(project);
                 newCurrent.setName("");
                 context.setCurrentTarget(newCurrent);
                 parse(project, source, new RootHandler(context, mainHandler));
@@ -790,6 +791,7 @@ public class ProjectHelper2 extends ProjectHelper {
 
             Project project = context.getProject();
             Target target = new Target();
+            target.setProject(project);
             context.addTarget(target);
 
             for (int i = 0; i < attrs.getLength(); i++) {